


Adult Supervision Required

by zarrati



Series: Triplet Fic [2]
Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-17
Updated: 2015-10-17
Packaged: 2018-04-26 20:07:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5018659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarrati/pseuds/zarrati
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ben can survive one week alone with the kids, right? He's about to find out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Adult Supervision Required

**_Day 1_ **

“Okay, kids, say goodbye to Mommy.”

Leslie was kneeling down, her arms clutching her children to her chest in a fierce hug as she rained kisses on each of their foreheads.

“I love you, my little monsters. Now, I’ll be back in one week, okay guys. I’ll call you every night before you go to bed. You promise to be good for Daddy?”

Three little heads nodded.

She stood up, flashing Ben a sad smile. “I’m gonna miss you.”

“Me too, but don’t worry, I’ll do my best to make sure they don’t burn the house down.”

Leslie grabbed Ben’s hand and pulled him to her. “Don’t even joke about that.”

After another round of goodbyes and “ewwww’s” from the triplets watching their parents kiss one another goodbye, Leslie was gone.

“Okay munchkins,” Ben said after strapping the kids into their car seats and started driving home, “you guys ready for some lunch?”

“I want french fries!” Wesley shouted.

“No, Wessie. Pizza,” Sonia yelled back.

Stephen started chanting “mac ‘n’ cheese” in an attempt to drown out his siblings.

“No, guys, we’re gonna go make stuff at home-”

“I have to go potty.”

“Me too”

“My tummy hurts”

It was going to be a long week.

* * *

**_Day 2_ **

Ben held a sobbing, and glasses-less, Wesley in his arms, trying to track down his other son. 

“Stevie. Stephen Wyatt, you come out here right now.”

A form crawled out from behind the sofa.

“Stevie, do you have your brother’s glasses?”

The boy shook his head no.

“Don’t lie to me. Give them to me right now.”

“I don’t have them, Daddy.”

“He does. He took them from me,” Wesley mumbled into Ben’s shoulder.

“I’m not gonna ask you again. Did you take his glasses?”

This time Stephen nodded.

“Okay, give them back.”

“I don’t have them.”

Ben pinched the bridge of his nose with the hand not currently holding a sobbing toddler. “Okay, you don’t have them, but do you know where they are?”

Another nod. 

“Show me right now.”

The little boy padded to the other side of the living room and pointed to the large floor vase.

Peeking inside, Ben saw the bright green glasses. But that wasn’t all. No, that would be too easy. The glasses were sitting atop of what looked like an assortment of old vegetables.

“What the-what is this? Have you-have you guys been hiding your veggies in here?”

Both Wesley and Stephen looked away shyly. 

“How did you-why? What made you even think of that?”

“Cuz that’s where Mommy hides her’s too.”

* * *

**_Day 3_ **

There were days that Ben swore his children had magical powers. It didn’t matter what precautions were taken, what doors were locked, what valuables were tucked away on high shelves, they always managed to cause trouble.

But Ben was proud of himself today. He had taken the day off, and while the kids were at day care, he retoddler-proofed the house like he had never done before. All sticky substances were on the top shelf in the kitchen, his ties were hidden in the highest corner of his closet, and there was not a stick of gum in the entire house. 

He had just brought the kids home, and they were surprisingly calm, coloring quietly in the living room. 

When the doorbell rang, Ben didn’t think twice, excited that it probably meant the signed Game of Thrones poster he won on Ebay was being delivered. The large smile on his face quickly disappeared when he walked back into the kitchen.

Gone were the three angelic toddlers, and in their place were goo-covered monsters. Wesley was shampooing his hair with honey, Stevie was giving himself a peanut butter beard “just like Uncle Andy’s”, and Sonia had not one, but two huge wads of gum in her hair.

Yes, his kids definitely had magical powers.

* * *

**_Day 4_ **

“Daddy,” a soft voice whispered in his ear. “Daddy,” it said again with a slight tap on his arm.

He peeled his sleepy eyes open and saw his daughter standing next to his bed, clutching her stuffed zebra to her chest.

“Hey, sweetheart, what’s the matter? Did you have a bad dream?”

The tiny blond nodded while trying to fight tears.

“It’s okay. It was just a dream. You wanna come sleep with me?”

The question wasn’t even complete before she crawled in beside him.

He cuddled her into his side and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Don’t worry. Daddy’s gonna keep the bad dreams away, okay?”

“Daddy, can you sing me my song? Please?”

“Of course, baby.” He sang softly, in his still raspy voice, “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray. You never know, dear, how much I love you-”

He heard her quiet snore, and pressed another kiss to her hair. “Please don’t take my sunshine away.”

* * *

**_Day 5_ **

Word to the wise: avoid taking three toddlers to the grocery store if you can help it.

Sonia sat in the seat on the front of the cart, tired and content to just watch her father grab the food. The boys were slightly more energetic. Refusing to stay in the basket of the cart. They were climbers, all three of them, they realized once they had the habit of climbing out of their cribs. 

Any time Ben would turn away to grab something from the shelves, at least one of his sons would make an escape, attempting to run to the candy aisle. They were reaching at random items and trying to put them in the cart.

What should have taken 15 minutes ended up taking over twice as long, and Ben breathed a sigh of relief once they made it to the check out. As he was unloading the cart, he found several boxes of sugary cereal, snacks, and candy bars that he knew for certain he didn’t put there. 

“Guys, I thought I watched you like hawks. How did you get these in here?”

Sonia giggled quietly behind him.

“Was this—did you do this?”

She nodded with a look of pride and pointed to her brothers. “They helped.”

The little—“You guys planned this didn’t you? You two would distract me and Sunny would grab the snacks.”

His kids never looked more proud of themselves. And he couldn’t blame them. 

His kids were geniuses.

* * *

**_Day 6_ **

Ben was exhausted. After the stunt the kids had pulled at the grocery store, he was so proud of their plan, that he allowed them to keep a few of the snacks they had chosen. 

Big mistake.

Sometime during the day, the kids broke into the pantry and each ate an entire candy bar. Ben was powerless to fight three sugar-charged children on his own, and the house was a wreck. Toys, clothes, books, you name it were strewn everywhere.

He did his best to calm them down and get them ready for bed, but Leslie hadn’t called yet, and the kids refused to get ready until their mommy called. It took hours, but they finally crashed—hard.

Ben was collapsed on the couch with three sleeping, chocolate covered toddlers piled on top of him.

It was getting late and Ben was starting to wonder as to why Leslie still hadn’t called when he heard a key in the lock.

Leslie quietly tip-toed in with a smile on her face.

“Hey! Whoa, this place is a wreck.”

“Yeah, sorry. The kids got their hands on some chocolate, and well, you know how that goes. I was gonna have it cleaned up by tomorrow. What are you doing home?”

“The conference got out a day early, so I thought I’d come back and surprise you.”

She walked over to the couch and gave Ben a soft kiss, careful not to wake up the kids as she pressed a kiss to their foreheads. 

“Well, this is the best surprise.”

Leslie ran her hands through Ben’s hair. “I thought so, too. So, how was it? Were they terrible? The house is still here, so that’s a good thing.”

Ben looked down at his sleeping children and couldn’t help but smile. This week was hard—it was always hard when one of them was away. He thought back to the yelling, the fighting, the hidden glasses and vegetables, peanut butter beards, and chocolate binges.

“It was perfect.”


End file.
